Well, that didn’t go well. NASA’s Glory satellite and the Taurus XL rocket that was to carry into orbit seemingly crashed into the Pacific Ocean on Friday morning, just after lifting off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
NASA seemed to acknowledge there was a problem about six minutes after launch.
“Glory Launch: It looks like we have a problem with launch. Standby,” NASA said on Twitter. “The launch team is working through its launch contingency plan, including collecting data from the launch.”
It seems that the protective shell located at the top of the Taurus XL rocket failed to separate, causing the rocket to slow down and keeping it from reaching orbit.
Both the rocket and the Glory satellite, which was to have collected data on Earth’s climate, crashed into the ocean.
“This is a pretty tough night for all of us,” said NASA official Ron Grabe.
More in the videos below.
Related articles
- Rocket Carrying New NASA Climate Satellite Fails to Reach Orbit (space.com)
- Glory Satellite Lost To Taurus XL Failure (science.slashdot.org)
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